en the kings
who conquered the world have been maddened by love and have fallen into
misfortune. But this king, though he ruled the whole world, though he
was maddened by the girl Passion, preferred to die rather than set his
foot on the path of iniquity. He was a hero. He was the better of the
two."

Then the goblin escaped by magic from the king's shoulder and went
back. And the king pursued him, undiscouraged. No great man stops in
the middle of the hardest undertaking.

SEVENTEENTH GOBLIN

_The Youth who went through the Proper Ceremonies. Why did he fail to
win the magic spell?_

Then the king went back through the night to the cemetery filled with
ghouls, terrible with funeral piles that seemed like ghosts with
wagging tongues of flame. But when he came to the sissoo tree, he was
surprised to see a great many bodies hanging on the tree. They were all
alike, and in each was a goblin twitching its limbs.

And the king thought: "Ah, what does this mean? Why does that magic
goblin keep wasting my time? For I do not know which of all these I
ought to take. If I should not succeed in this night's endeavour, then
I would burn myself alive rather than become a laughing-stock."

But the goblin understood the king's purpose, and was pleased with his
character. So he gave up his magic arts. Then the king saw only one
goblin in one body. He took him down as before, put him on his
shoulder, and started once more.

And as he walked along, the goblin said: "O King, if you have no
objections, I will tell you a story. Listen."

There is a city called Ujjain, whose people delight in noble happiness,
and feel no longing for heaven. In that city there is real darkness at
night, real intelligence in poetry, real madness in elephants, real
coolness in pearls, sandal, and moonlight.

There lived a king named Moonshine. He had as counsellor a famous
Brahman named Heaven-lord, rich in money, rich in piety, rich in
learning. And the counsellor had a son named Moon-lord.

This son went one day to a great resort of gamblers to play. There the
dice, beautiful as the eyes of gazelles, were being thrown constantly.
And Calamity seemed to be looking on, thinking: "Whom shall I embrace?"
And the loud shouts of angry gamblers seemed to suggest the question:
"Who is there that would not be fleeced here, were he the god of wealth
himself?"

This hall the youth entered, and played with dice. He staked his
clothes and everything e